The first period was scoreless, mostly thanks to MacDonald, who faced eight of the first nine shots of the game, and 15 overall in the period.

"They came out pretty strong for the first 10 minutes," MacDonald said. "I had to make a lot of stops early in the game. It's nice that we held the fort."

Ottawa agreed.

"We really did good on the forecheck in the first," Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "We took a lot of time and space away from them."

Things changed in the second period.

Bergenheim broke through to give the Islanders the lead at 3:54 of the second period. He took the rebound of Doug Weight's shot and quickly flipped it past Auld.

Sim connected on a short shot on the Islanders' first power-play attempt for a 2-0 advantage at 9:54. In the third period, Campoli upped the lead to 3-0 at 3:59 on a centre-point wrist shot.

"We didn't score on our chances, and they did on theirs," Alfredsson said. "We have to find a way to score goals."

Heatley broke MacDonald's shutout bid at 13:29 with his 10th goal of the season.

With Auld pulled late for an extra attacker, Spezza buried a loose puck with 93 seconds left to close the gap to 3-2.

"It's a good feeling when you beat them back-to-back," Islanders forward Doug Weight said. "Whether or not they have problems, they're still a good team."

MacDonald added, "When you win a couple of games in a row, it's good for your confidence."

Notes: Ottawa forward Chris Neil sustained a leg injury during the game. Hartsburg wasn't sure of the extent of it. ... Islanders defenceman Radek Martinek returned after missing the last 13 games because of a right shoulder injury. ... The last time New York beat Ottawa at home in regulation was a 5-2 victory on Jan. 19, 2004. Since then, the Islanders had lost five games and won one shootout at Nassau Coliseum. ... Former baseball star Darryl Strawberry dropped the ceremonial first puck, and took in his first ever hockey game.